miércoles, 29 de febrero de 2012

¿Sabes ésto de la Megaminería Tóxica?



Esta es una mina que presenta similitudes con lo que sería la mina "San Antonio" (México). Observe al fondo el tajo y al centro el enorme "cerro artificial" de desechos tóxicos y las lagunas con cianuro. También compare el color del área natural con el color del área de explotación, en donde los minerales ya evidencian signos de oxidación, lo que significa el inicio de la liberación al ambiente de las sales de arsénico y metales pesados. 

Megaminería de Oro (Nevada)


Tell Hong Kong Airlines: No more live dolphin shipments!

ORIGINAL: HumaneSociety

The capture and trade of live dolphins for captive display is strongly opposed by the general public. Yet in January 2012, Hong Kong Airlines cashed in on a deal to fly five dolphins from Japan to Vietnam to be displayed in dolphinariums – for a paying public’s amusement. Most likely, these animals were taken during the brutal slaughter known as drive hunts that occur in Japan, The cruelty was featured in the 2009 Oscar winning documentary The Cove. More than 1,200 dolphins were killed in the 2010-2011 hunting season, and at least 150 were set aside alive, destined for a life in captivity.

The capture, transport, and lifelong confinement of wild dolphins pose severe welfare and conservation concerns. The potential for harmful mental and physical effects is incredibly high, such as stress-induced illness and premature death. Additionally, the removal of these marine mammals from the wild presents a threat to the continued survival of some populations.


TAKE ACTION
Hong Kong Airlines has indicated that this shipment was not a one-off deal – it means to continue this lucrative and highly controversial business of transporting live dolphins. Please send a message today and urge the president of Hong Kong Airlines to enact a corporate policy to end any future shipments of live dolphins.


Thank you for speaking out for animals.  

martes, 28 de febrero de 2012

El futuro, según Eric Schmidt

ORIGINAL: ABC.es
29/02/2012

El presidente ejecutivo de Google dice que existirán tres estratos: una élite «hiperconectada» y asistida por robots, una clase media y una mayoría con acceso limitado a internet

EFE. Eric Smidcht, en el Mobile World Congress

El presidente ejecutivo de Google ha compartido en el Mobile World Congress su visión sobre el futuro. Según Eric Schmidt las sociedades se dividirán entre tres estratos, y lo harán en función del uso que hagan de la tecnología. Existirá
  • una élite, “hiper-conectada” a la Red y asistida por robots, 
  • una clase media y 
  • una mayoría con acceso limitado a internet.
Eric Schmidt ha hablado en el Mobile World Congress de cómo ve el futuro. El planteamiento del que ha sido CEO de Google durante 10 años, hasta abril de 2011, y ahora es su presidente ejecutivo entra en el ámbito social, mediatizado éste totalmente por la tecnología.

Schmidt cree que la sociedad del futuro en nuestro planeta se dividirá en tres estratos, según recoge SiliconFilter. La pertenencia a uno u otro estará definida por el uso que se hace de la tecnología y el acceso que se tiene a ella.


Los tres estratos

Unos pocos privilegiados serán los «hiperconectados», quienes dispondrán de acceso a redes de conexión de alta velocidad y una potencia de procesamiento ilimitada. Estos medios estarán presentes en la mayoría de las grandes ciudades. Las posibilidades de esta élite tecnológica sólo estarán limitadas por lo que la tecnología puede hacer.

Este grupo será asistido por robots, hasta el punto de poder estar en dos sitios al mismo tiempo, mediante hologramas en 3D, tal y como señalan desde VentureBeat. Los coches autopilotados, con los que Google ya está experimentando, reducirán los accidentes y la Red será como electricidad, estará en todas partes y los integrantes de este estrato estarán tan acostumbrados que ni siquiera notarán que está ahí.

Un segundo grupo utilizará tecnología más barata para su trabajo y vida cotidiana, pero seguirá disponiendo de herramientas efectivas. Constituirán la clase media del futuro, según Schmidt, y podrán utilizar los avances técnicos para cambiar el mundo. En este grupo se incluirían los desarrolladores, a quienes calificó de “ingenieros de la libertad humana”.

Después de resaltar que programar es “algo más que construir programas”, Schmidt también apuntó el papel de los consumidores en este grupo de clase media. Ellos apoyarán las creaciones de los primeros y defenderán los principios de la Red.

Por último el presidente ejecutivo de Google se fijó en el tercer grupo, el que estaría menos favorecido. Éste provendría de esos 5.000 millones de personas que en estos momentos no tienen acceso a Internet. Constituirán una “mayoría que aspira” a subir de escalón social. Dispondrán de un acceso limitado internet, con proliferación de redes locales, la forma más barata de procurar una conexión.

Sin embargo, el mensaje de Schmidt fue positivo. Una de las reflexiones que planteó el presidente ejecutivo de Google fue: “Pensad en lo fascinante que es la web hoy en día con solo 2.000 millones de personas”. Si es así con 2.000 millones, sumando los 5.000 millones de habitantes del planeta restantes el espacio sería mucho más enriquecedor.

Beyond environment: falling back in love with Mother Earth

Original: The Guardian

Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh explains why mindfulness and a spiritual revolution rather than economics is needed to protect nature and limit climate change

for the Guardian Professional Network
guardian.co.uk,
Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh
Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh says a spiritual revolution is needed if we are going to confront the environmental challenges that face us. Photograph: Plum Village

Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh has been practising meditation and mindfulness for 70 years and radiates an extraordinary sense of calm and peace. This is a man who on a fundamental level walks his talk, and whom Buddhists revere as a Bodhisattva; seeking the highest level of being in order to help others.

Ever since being caught up in the horrors of the Vietnam war, the 86-year-old monk has committed his life to reconciling conflict and in 1967 Martin Luther King nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, saying "his ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity."

So it seems only natural that in recent years he has turned his attention towards not only addressing peoples' disharmonious relationships with each other, but also with the planet on which all our lives depend.

Thay, as he is known to his many thousands of followers, sees the lack of meaning and connection in peoples' lives as being the cause of our addiction to consumerism and that it is vital we recognise and respond to the stress we are putting on Earth if civilisation is to survive.

What Buddhism offers, he says, is the recognition that we all suffer and the way to overcome that pain is to directly confront it, rather than seeking to hide or bypass it through our obsession with shopping, entertainment, work or the beautification of our bodies. The craving for fame, wealth, power and sex serves to create only the illusion of happiness and ends up exacerbating feelings of disconnection and emptiness.

Thay refers to a billionaire chief executive of one of America's largest companies, who came to one of his meditation courses and talked of his suffering, worries and doubts, of thinking everyone was coming to take advantage of him and that he had no friends.

In an interview at his home and retreat centre in Plum Village, near Bordeaux, Thay outlines how a spiritual revolution is needed if we are going to confront the multitude of environmental challenges.

While many experts point to the enormous complexity and difficulty in addressing issues ranging from the destruction of ecosystems to the loss of millions of species, Thay sees a Gordian Knot that needs slicing through with a single strike of a sharp blade.

Move beyond concept of the "environment"

Thich Nhat Hanh interview with Jo Confino, an executive editor of the Guardian
by Plum Village Online Monastery


He believes we need to move beyond talking about the environment, as this leads people to experience themselves and Earth as two separate entities and to see the planet in terms only of what it can do for them.
Change is possible only if there is a recognition that people and planet are ultimately one and the same.

"You carry Mother Earth within you," says Thay. "She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment".


356 leopard deaths in India in 365 days

By: Adnan Attarwala
Place: Pune

Wildlife Protection Society of India report for 2011 shows 356 deaths in 365 days; poaching behind 52% of fatalities
The observation that India is losing its leopards faster than any other wild cat will soon be proved true as according to the latest report by the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) 356 leopards died across the country because of various causes last year alone.

A dwindling race: A leopard in the wild. Experts warn that the actual
number of leopard deaths in the country in 2011 may be more than
three times the reported figure of 356. file pIC

The data shows 52 per cent of the deaths were due to poaching.

Since earlier reports show 126 leopards died in 2007, 157 in 2008, 161 in 2009 and 180 in 2010, the latest figures reveal that after 2007 the death rate among the spotted big cats has only increased and that leopards are in greater danger than tigers in the country.

State figures
According to the Nagpur forest department's wildlife division, 81 leopard deaths were reported in the state in 2011 compared to 56 in 2010 and 48 in 2009. The deaths, reported in villages near the city, Junnar, Jalgaon, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Hingoli and Ratnagiri, are largely being attributed to poaching.

Of the 356 deaths reported in 2011 countrywide, 41 (12 per cent) deaths were due to conflict with humans, 29 (8 per cent) were due to accidents, 65 (18 per cent) fatalities were ascribed to unknown reasons, and 186 (52 per cent) occurred due to poaching. The report adds that 14 leopards were killed during rescue operations and 21 by other animals.

The data shows that the highest number of deaths was recorded in Uttarakhand; as many as 114 (30 per cent) of the leopard deaths last year occurred in that state.

The many deaths were recorded despite leopards being listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and should enjoy the highest degree of protection.

Just tip of iceberg
According to the forest department, there were fewer than 200 humans injured or killed because of leopard attacks between 2003 and 2012.

"More than one leopard is killed everyday. The cases that we have reported are just the tip of the iceberg; the loss could be three to five times more since most of the incidents happened outside the forest range and also due to improper intelligence gathering. Cub mortality due to the absence of the females is not even recorded," said Dr Anish Andheria, Director of Science, Natural History and Photography with Sanctuary Asia, who was instrumental in gathering the information.

According to him, there is a problem of livelihood and degradation of forests, because of which the leopards enter human territory in search of food sources, which are depleting.

Since jungle corridors have been destroyed with builders encroaching into the forest zones, the leopards have nowhere to go and stray into residential areas, only to be beaten to death by people.

"They have created water canals and sugarcane fields in places like Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra, and the cropping land use pattern is changing from traditional to fertiliser farming, because of which the leopards are colonising the areas close to human settlements," said Andheria.

Killing clip draws sharp reactions on net  
Savage brutality: A leopard is whacked to death by villagers in Haryana.
A clip of the incident on the internet revealed the grim reality of rising
attacks on leopards in the country and drew sharp reactions from the
world over
Last week a video of a leopard being clubbed to death by around 50 villagers in Haryana that was doing the rounds of social networking sites provoked sharp reactions from people and wildlife activists across the world. People expressed great disappointment towards the apathy of the government, which they say has failed to protect its national asset.

¿Tienen derechos los animales?

ORIGINAL: Razón Pública

El senador liberal Camilo Sánchez propone que los animales comiencen a tener derechos dentro del ordenamiento juridico colombiano. La abogada catalana, Anna Mulá, explica cuál es la justificación de esta decisión que ya han tomado algunos países europeos


lunes, 27 de febrero de 2012

Scientists bring to life Jurassic bush-cricket's serenade

ORIGINAL: Asahi Shimbun
February 23, 2012

By RYOKO TAKEISHI / Staff Writer
In the next best thing to "Jurassic Park," a team of researchers from China, Britain and the United States have recreated the song of an ancient bush-cricket that prospered during the age of dinosaurs.

A reconstituted image of Archaboilus musicus, a Jurassic bush-cricket whose songs were reconstructed scientifically (Image provided by Fernando Montealegre-Zapata)
The reconstruction was based on the analysis of a 165-million-year-old fossil species, named Archaboilus musicus, from northwest China that retained detailed wing features.

The research result was published online on Feb. 6 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.

"Using a low-pitched song, A. musicus was acoustically adapted to long-distance communication in a lightly cluttered environment, such as a Jurassic forest," said Fernando Montealegre-Zapata, a research fellow at the University of Bristol and a co-author of the research article. "Today, all species of katydids that use musical calls are nocturnal, so musical calls in the Jurassic were also most likely an adaptation to nocturnal life."

The fossil insect belongs to a group of bush-crickets that prospered from the late Triassic to the mid-Jurassic periods. It had a wingspan of about 7 centimeters. The fossil specimen was so well preserved that it retained 107 teeth on the left wing and 96 teeth on the right wing. Those teeth were used to produce sounds when it rubbed its wings together.

The scientists used microscopic methods to observe the wing structures and tooth density on the fossil. They then compared the data with those of living bush-cricket species to determine the frequency of the wing-rubbing sounds and to reconstitute the music.

It turned out that the sound was composed of short-lasting bouts and had a pitch of 6.4 kilohertz, relatively low for a chirping insect.

Staff at the Tama Zoological Park in Tokyo said the reconstituted music strongly resembled the singing of Ornebius kanetataki, a small grasshopper species that is commonly seen in hedges and grassland across modern Japan.

"For Archaboilus, as for living bush-cricket species, singing constitutes a key component of mate attraction," said Daniel Robert, a professor of biology at the University of Bristol and one of the authors of the research article.

* * *

Listen to the recreated calls of an ancient bush-cricket by clicking link below.
Audio created by Fernando Montealegre-Zapata; 3D forest reconstruction from work by J.K. Hinz, I. Smith, H.-U. Pfretzschner, O. Wings and G. Sun

Parques Nacionales Naturales y CLOPAD Santa Rosa atienden incendio en el Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados


Parques Nacionales Naturales y CLOPAD Santa Rosa atienden incendio en el Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados


Funcionarios de Parques Nacionales Naturales llegaron al lugar exacto en donde se está produciendo un incendio en el Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados. Los operarios llegaron al Paramillo de Santa Rosa, y reportaron tres focos de incendio, con línea de fuego de aproximadamente 150 metros, calculan que se hayan afectado de 20 a 30 hectáreas cerca al sitio conocido como el predio Cortaderal. De igual manera los funcionarios están tomando las coordenadas respectivas para tener otra posible vía de acceso.


Desde Santa Rosa  un grupo de 10 personas de la Defensa Civil, la Cruz Roja y Bomberos para reforzar las acciones de mitigación del incendio.

La conflagración que se presenta desde horas de la noche de ayer martes, en inmediaciones del Paramillo de Santa Rosa, aproximadamente a una cota de 4000-4200 mts, en jurisdicción del departamento de Risaralda

Según las primeras versiones de la jefe del área protegida, Gloria Teresita Serna, se desconocen las causas de este hecho.  Desde ayer se activó el CLOPAD Santa Rosa y el CREPAD Risaralda para avanzar hacia el sector con tres grupos conformados por la Defensa Civil, Cruz Roja y Bomberos de Santa Rosa de Cabal.

"La primer información que tuvimos por parte del Cuerpo de Bomberos es que cerca de las 7:30 de la noche de ayer, se presentó un incendio en el Paramillo de Santa Rosa. También nos llegaron reportes de habitantes del sector que informaban sobre la conflagración por lo que inmediatamente se activó el plan de contingencia", explicó la funcionaria.

Para agilizar la llegada al lugar se dividieron dos grupos del personal de Parques Nacionales Naturales: uno que salió por el sector de Brisas- Potosi  y otro por Villamaria- Potosi

domingo, 26 de febrero de 2012

LA LOCOMOTORA MINERA SALE DEL CLOSET

ORIGINAL: Carlos Victoria

Febrero 26, 2012 at 6:48pm ·


A todas luces no es compatible el desarrollo minero a gran escala con los derechos colectivos a un ambiente sano. Las escaramuzas de las últimas semanas en distintos lugares del país por cuenta del malestar social que produce a su paso la locomotora minera, metáfora que inculca la supremacía del patrón dominante en las políticas extractivas, solo están reflejando que el legado de la Constitución de 1991 no ha sido tan mezquino como algunas pretenden hacer creer.

La participación ciudadana cuando se transforma en protesta social adquiere el estatus legítimo de  inconformidad popular. Y eso es justamente lo que se observa tras los procesos de reclamo comunitario alrededor del derecho al agua, a la soberanía alimentaria y en últimas a una vida digna. La misma que no están garantizando las multinacionales que configuran el cartel minero energético a costa de doblarle el espinazo a  algunas autoridades ambientales y gobernantes locales que, en muchos casos, han servido en bandeja de plata sus territorios.

 A medida que los conflictos ambientales se agudizan por cuenta del avance de la llamada locomotora, la estrategia de las multinacionales consiste en atenuar la violencia policial que se desata en los campos colombianos contra los reclamantes, mediante el uso de propaganda en la que el lobo se viste con piel de oveja. En otros casos se apela a la maniquea responsabilidad social con la cual se pretende cooptar la informidad ciudadana. En últimas construyen una gobernabilidad mediática en pos del control social.

Pacific Rubiales CorporationAnglo Gold Ashanti y la Drummond Company, Inc., entre otras compañías extranjeras, apelan al lobby propagandístico para ganarse las mentes y los corazones de los colombianos. Han salido del incomodo closet, pasando a una ofensiva que no solo se contrarresta con gases lacrimógenos, balas de goma y bolillazos, como bien se pudo observar en el documental elaborado por el periodista Bladimir Espitia Sánchez . El contra ataque incorpora una ofensiva publicitaria sin precedentes, apelando a testimonios de operarios, familiares y técnicos.  

Detrás de la campaña publicitaria y los periodistas ancla destacados en los grandes medios de comunicación del país,  se busca manipular a la opinión pública, si tomamos en cuenta  al experto Guillermo Rudas Lleras, para quien se estaría legitimando un verdadero paraíso fiscal en favor de las multinacionales:  “las regalías  -en el caso del oro- deberían estar entre el 4 por ciento (filón) y el 6 por ciento (aluvión) del valor de la producción, pero sólo representaron el 3,8 por ciento por ciento de dicho valor durante el período de 2002-2010”. Este solo dato, entre otros tantos, desmiente de entrada el eslogan de la campaña “Pacific es para mí”.

La campaña contra la denominada “minería ilegal” es la mejor demostración para abrirle la puerta al capital extranjero a la riqueza de todos los colombianos, porque mientras sataniza a los mineros tradicionales, quienes “toda la vida” han vivido de barequear y arriesgar su vida en un socavón, se presenta a las multinacionales como las únicas capaces y eficientes, siguiendo la tradición colonial de las élites criollas. Como sostiene Rudas, si las reglas del juego no cambian  los aportes de la minería al país seguirán siendo una vana ilusión, especialmente si se contrastan con el alto riesgo social y ambiental que esta actividad implica”.

Desentrañar la guerra sucia, la manipulación propagandística y el vasallaje mediático de los grandes conglomerados informativos, es parte del ejercicio que le corresponde a la comunicación alternativa y al periodismo independiente. La repercusión mundial del documental del periodista Espita Sánchez es un ejemplo elocuente de que las grandes multinacionales y medios de comunicación no lo pueden controlar todo, a pesar de su poderío.


25 de febrero de 2012 



Marine Mammal Rights Are Needed Too, Scientists Claim

ORIGINAL: Huffington Post

By Jennifer Welsh, LiveScience Staff Writer:

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Orcas mourn their dead, right whales have accents and dolphins like to have fun (and they "talk" in their sleep). Because of their special intelligence and culture, marine mammals should have their own set of rights, researchers attending the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting here said.

"Because of their cultural sophistication these are enormously vulnerable individuals," said Lori Marino, who studies brain and behavioral evolution in mammals at Emory University in Atlanta. "We have all the evidence to show that there is an egregious mismatch between how cetaceans are and how they are perceived and still treated by our species."

Giving rights to cetaceans, the name for the group of marine mammals that includes dolphins and whales, would allow them better treatment under the law, including making sure they have healthy habitats and enough food to hunt and survive, as well as getting them out of captivity.

Special brains


Scientists point to a few qualities of marine mammals when suggesting the animals deserve some basic rights: they are self-aware, display complex intelligence and even have culture.

"These characteristics are shared with our own species, we recognize them," Marino said. "All of these characteristics make it ethically inconsistent to deny the basic rights of cetaceans."

And what do they mean by "basic rights?"

"When we talk about rights, that's a shorthand way to talk about the fundamental needs of a being," Thomas White, of Loyola Marymount University in California, said at the symposium. He also draws the difference between "human" and "person," similar to how philosophers distinguish the two: A human is a biological idea -- Homo sapiens, to be specific, while in philosophy, a person is a being of any species with a particular set of characteristics that deserves special treatment. [10 Things That Make Humans Special]

"You have to have a species-appropriate understanding of rights," White said. These include the basic set of conditions for growth, development, flourishingand even a rudimentary sense of satisfaction in life.

The researchers noted some areas where humans are stripping these animals of their rights. For instance, by keeping them in captivity we are exploiting their right to live in their natural environment without human interference, and taking away their right to physical and mental health, Marino said, adding, "The effects of captivity are well known. These animals suffer from stress and disease in captivity. Many captive dolphins and orcas show physical and behavioral indications of stress." (Some endangered animals are kept in captivity for specially designed breeding programs meant to protect their population from extinction.)

PETA problems

The meeting comes on the heels of a recent ruling in a San Diego court that animals such as whales and dolphins don't have human rights, shutting down a lawsuit from the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who had claimed that SeaWorld’s orcas were slaves. PETA claimed that the park broke the 13th Amendment of the Constitution -- banning slavery -- by forcing their animals, specifically the orcas, to work against their will for the financial gain of their owners.

San Diego District Judge Jeffrey Miller dismissed the case before the hearing even began. "As 'slavery' and 'involuntary servitude' are uniquely human activities," he explained in his decision on Feb. 8, "there is simply no basis to construe the Thirteenth Amendment as applying to non-humans."

His statement makes clear, Marino pointed out, why she and others are fighting for "person" status for marine mammals. "Without obtaining legal status as a person in the law there's nowhere to go and there's nothing that judge could have done in that PETA case, even if he wanted to,” Marino said. Before we start asking for legal action, she said, we need to get these animals their basic rights.

A los científicos en Colombia se les cobra por investigar

ORIGINAL: CARACOL

Colombia tiene el número más grande de especies por unidad de área en el planeta. Hay más de 1800 especies de aves, que van desde el cóndor de los Andes hasta el diminuto colibrí. La fauna colombiana es muy variada en especial en las selvas amazónicas, hay variedad de especies (aves, roedores, insectos, peces, micos, reptiles, etc.) únicos en el mundo, ejemplo de ello son los delfines rosados. Se encuentra a su vez diversidad en el clima que varia por solo kilómetros (húmedos, fríos, calientes, etc); Los herbarios colombianos han clasificado más de 130.000 plantas, incluyendo entre ellas la bellísima orquídea considerada la flor nacional de Colombia.

Todo esto reúne un país entero en el cual el impulso científico es vital para crear un desarrollo sostenible y una conciencia amigable para el ambiente y para la conservación de estas miles de especies.

Pero la comunidad científica, recibió con sorpresa la Resolución 260 del 28 de diciembre de 2011, en la cual se establecen cuatro nuevos tipos de cobro en los que los científicos o sus organizaciones deben incurrir por el solo hecho de querer tener acceso al rico material genético existente en el país, así como otra serie de trabas burocráticas que hacen imposible hacer ciencia e investigación.

Pero difícil de creer, mientras a la actividad científica se le complican los trámites y se colocan restricciones, a la minería ni se le molesta con consultas previas y en 90 días se les da el permiso, con pocos o nulos controles ambientales. Igual ocurre con la tala de bosques en el Chocó, que son para multinacionales norteamericanas del sector maderero.

Consecuencia de esto para cumplir con la ley colombiana, un científico que quiera, por ejemplo, recolectar mariposas para conocer únicamente cómo se llaman, debe armarse de paciencia los tres años y medio, en promedio, que dura el proceso para obtener el permiso del Ministerio y lograr el mencionado contrato de acceso a recurso de material genético. Además, es necesario disponer de 15 millones de pesos que cuesta cada consulta previa ordenada, la cual debe adelantarse con cada comunidad indígena o aborigen que tenga presencia en el lugar donde se piense trabajar científicamente.

El profesor asociado de la Vicerrectoría de Investigación de la UN, Gonzalo Andrade, dijo que esto es “una burla al proceso que se adelanta con el mismo Ministerio de Ambiente”. Además afirmó que sin este contrato, los científicos están expuestos a parar en la cárcel, porque así lo dice la norma. “Si esto es ilegal no es porque los científicos lo queramos, pero con la norma vigente y ahora agravada, es imposible la adquisición de un contrato de acceso a recursos genéticos en Colombia. En 15 años tan solo han sido aprobados 46. Hoy por hoy, 560 proyectos requieren de ese tipo de contrato, el tiempo pasa y las trabas aumentan”, remarcó.

Andrade además dijo, “Ahora nos van a cobrar por la evaluación y seguimiento de los proyectos que presentamos ante las autoridades ambientales. Cuando presentemos el proyecto, le debemos pagar al Ministerio; cuando nos van a evaluar, le debemos pagar, y cuando nos van a hacer seguimiento, también hay que pagar aspectos como honorarios”.

Frente al tema, afirmó que la sorpresa es mayor porque les abren la puerta a contratistas nacionales o extranjeros que serán los autorizados para darle o no el aval a dichos proyectos, y se les debe pagar con el tope máximo de una tabla respectiva que maneja el Ministerio de Transporte para este tipo de actividades y con los valores del PNUD (para foráneos). “Si antes requeríamos 15 millones de pesos por proyecto, ahora nos tocará tener 20 millones en promedio. Nos van a hacer seguimiento en gastos de viaje y viáticos que tenemos que pagarles a los funcionarios de los ministerios que quieran ir a ver lo que hacemos. No sé cómo el Estado colombiano dice querer incentivar la investigación y la ciencia y demuestra otra cosa”.

Agregó que el Gobierno también se contradijo al suscribir el Protocolo de Nagoya, que busca “suavizar” los trámites y controles para las investigaciones científicas, así como hacer una distribución justa y equitativa de los beneficios económicos que genere una patente de una investigación. con todo esto tristemente se  demuestra la restricción que el país le está haciendo a los investigadores que pretenden impulsar desarrollos benéficos para la nación pero que con esta ley  puede llegar a ser un problema para la misma. 

viernes, 24 de febrero de 2012

Concern Over Rare Rhino Rouses Clean Energy Drive in Malaysia

Jeff Smith
Published February 22, 2012

Plans for a coal plant near one of the last remaining habitats for the rare Sumatran rhino were scuttled, but Sabah, Malaysia still faces a power crunch. Waste from the palm oil industry (a plantation in Malaysia is seen below) could help meet demand.
Photograph by Nick Garbutt, Steve Bloom Images/Alamy

Potential threats to the rare Sumatran rhino, coral reefs, and other fragile animals helped galvanize a highly publicized fight last year to stop a coal-fired plant from being built on the east coast of Sabah, Malaysia.

The activists were armed with evidence that renewable energy such as hydropower, geothermal, and waste from the region's abundant oil palm mills could compete with coal in costs.

Activists won the impassioned battle when government officials killed the plant in February 2011. But they haven't yet achieved their goal of getting this ecotourism destination—one of the most biologically diverse spots on earth—to go renewable and serve as a model for other environmentally sensitive areas around the globe.

Instead, a 300-megawatt natural gas plant, announced earlier this month, is slated to ease Sabah's power crunch. The capacity of the proposed plant dwarfs that of renewable energy plants in Sabah. Renewable energy has been progressing slowly, and a key financial incentive for new projects is in limbo.

"The natural gas plant is our only viable option at the moment," Masidi Manjun, Sabah state minister of tourism, culture and environment, said by email. Natural gas is readily available offshore, he noted, and will generate the reliable electricity needed for economic growth. "This includes the development of new resorts, especially beach resorts, that are in short supply at the moment." He predicted renewable energy will have a significant role—in the future.

Natural Gas for Now
Activists knew a year ago this could be the outcome, at least in the short term.
"The government is going with the natural gas option to fuel our immediate energy needs," while making "cautious moves towards renewable energy," said Cynthia Ong, executive director of Malaysia-based Land Empowerment Animals People (LEAP). "During the anti-coal campaign, we took the position that the state needed to explore using its own natural gas resources (offshore) over importing coal . . . and of course we advocated strongly for renewable energy."

An environmental impact assessment hasn't been completed for the gas plant, but concerns aren't likely to be as high as they were for the coal plant. Gas is a cleaner fuel, and the plant will be in an industrial area far from the ecosystems that ignited the coal debate.

Sabah, on the northern end of the island of Borneo, is part of a region known as the Coral Triangle. Its rugged terrain and coral reefs have brought it world acclaim for its biodiversity and beauty.

The coal plant was planned along Sabah's coastline, 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the border of the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Malaysia's largest animal park and one of the last remaining habitats for the Sumatran rhinoceros. The world's smallest rhinoceros at only about 4.3 feet (1.3 meters) tall, the Sumatran rhino is one of the most critically endangered species on Earth, with only 200 remaining in areas of Indonesia and Malaysia, according to the International Rhino Foundation. Poachers, hunters, and encroaching habitats have trimmed the number of rhinos on Borneo to an estimated 30 to 50. (For some rhinos, it's too late already. The Javan rhino in Vietnam recently was declared extinct by conservationists for many of the same reasons. In South Africa, more than 1,000 rhinos have been slaughtered in the past six years.)
(Related: "Rhino Wars")
Rivaling the price of gold on the black market, rhino horn is at the center of a bloody poaching battle. Stirton Photography

The Tabin reserve also includes Pygmy elephants, Bornean orangutans, sun bears, and leopards.

But in addition to being an important wildlife habitat, Sabah's east coast has experienced unplanned power outages due to the lack of electrical capacity. Almost all of its power comes from dirty and unreliable diesel plants that the government wants to replace with cleaner sources.

Currently, fossil fuels account for about 90 percent of power capacity in Sabah. The challenge, is "how to green the mix in an economically viable way," says Daniel Kammen, director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.

Ong recruited Kammen, an adviser to National Geographic's Great Energy Challenge initiative, in 2010 to study energy options for a coalition of five nongovernmental organizations dubbed GREEN Surf (Sabah Unite to Re-Power the Future).

Kammen's research team concluded that hydropower and biomass waste projects could be cost-competitive with coal, with geothermal slightly less so (but competitive with natural gas). The researchers highlighted palm oil waste as having the potential to produce up to 700 megawatts of power by 2020.

Malaysia is the second largest producer of palm oil in the world, and Sabah has more acreage under cultivation—3.5 million acres in 2010—than any other region of the country.
"Our process was to do the math, do the assessment, come up with a plan," Kammen said in an interview. "We went in not knowing what would work out."

Kammen traveled to Sabah to present his findings at a public meeting that was broadcast on local television. He also met individually with local officials, meetings he believes were critical to helping persuade government officials to back down from the proposed coal power plant.
By that time, the coal controversy already had stretched over several years, with two previous proposed sites dropped partly because of community opposition to such environmental impacts as ash ponds and carbon dioxide emissions.

LEAP and other environmental and civil society organizations also had complained that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the coal plant failed to adequately consider impacts on marine and animal life, and climate change. They said the assessment also listed species that aren't present in Sabah while omitting others such as the rhinoceros. Ong said those involved in the EIA process showed a lack of understanding of principles of environmental protection. For example, during one informal meeting, she recalls, a consultant working on the EIA said there was "no issue with fish, because fish could swim away."

Ong said many government officials were supportive of the anti-coal campaign in private meetings, but "the way politics works in Malaysia if the top guy says something you don't oppose it." But she said she believes the proposed coal plant became such a hot local political issue that Prime Minister Najib Razak felt compelled to stop it.

A statement issued in February 2011 by Musa Aman, Sabah state government's chief minister, indicated that Najib made the call in recognition that "one of Sabah's greatest assets is its natural attractions and still somewhat pristine environment."

Najib has been trying to position Malaysia as a leader in reducing carbon emissions.

At the 2009 climate change conference in Copenhagen, Najib pledged to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. Malaysia enacted a renewable energy law in 2011 that, among other things, created a Sustainable Energy Development Authority.
A premium tariff was established, enabling renewable energy producers to sell their power to utilities at prices roughly 50 percent above the current rate.

In Sabah, two oil palm biomass plants totaling about 25 megawatts of capacity have qualified for that premium tariff, as well as two small hydro plants totaling about 6.5 megawatts of capacity, according to Malaysia's Sustainable Energy Development Authority.

A company named Tawau Green Energy plans to build a 30-megawatt geothermal plant on Sabah's east coast. But the tariff isn't available for new renewable energy projects in Sabah at this time, said SEDA spokesman Wei-nee Chen. He said by email that the central government "is in talks with the state government of Sabah for them to contribute to the renewable energy fund. Once an agreement has been reached, then the (premium) tariff will be opened to Sabah for new projects."

Kammen's research team calculated that the income from electricity sales at the current tariff wouldn't quite be enough to cover the cost of operating an oil palm waste plant. But the researchers said the projects could be cost-competitive when taking into account potential carbon credits.

Creating a Renewable Industry
Palm biomass projects aren't without environmental concerns.
Louis Verchot, the leading climate change scientist for the Bogor, Indonesia-based Center for International Forestry Research, said using oil palm waste to produce electricity generally is a good idea because such waste usually is burned or left to decompose slowly.
However, he cautioned, if palm oil waste production generates profits, it could create economic incentives to expand oil palm plantations, leading to more deforestation.

Malaysia already has suffered greatly from deforestation of its hardwoods and peatlands. Verchot's team has published several analyses over the past two years that have shown that such biomass cultivation has a negative effect on the atmosphere and on natural habitat. That's especially true if the cultivation occurs on peatlands, which naturally store carbon.
Ong said her group has had a few meetings with Sabah's big oil palm players on the possibility of generating electricity from palm oil waste. But, she said, "It was a little bit of a challenge to convince them to pioneer what was basically going to be a new industry. The bottom line is their focus."

LEAP instead is working with a group of indigenous oil palm farmers on a small project to convert waste into biomass pellets, in hopes of proving its viability as a commercial enterprise.

Ong said she is optimistic about renewable energy over the long term, but believes it will be up to the people to engage the government and "provoke and take leadership in pioneering the renewable energy industry." LEAP is putting together a Southeast Asia renewable energy group and also has been asked to help an anti-dam group in Sarawak, Sabah's Borneo neighbor.

Said Masidi Manjun, Sabah's environment minister: "Renewable energy will not only have a significant role in the future but perhaps is the only viable option if the world is serious about conservation and tackling climatic change . . . . This is the way forward-that is, if we are interested in saving the world."

This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.

Biomimicry 3.8: What Would You Ask Nature?

ORIGINAL: Core77
Posted by Valerie Casey 
21 Feb 2012

biomimicry_img3.jpg
[Source: Kathy Zarsky]
Design leader Robert Suarez and Sustainability Strategist Kathy Zarsky have been exploring this question through their studies in biomimicry with Biomimcry 3.8, the world-leading organization that harnesses nature's strategies to inspire new kinds of creative problem-solving. In this conversation with the Designers Accord, we learn from Robert and Kathy not just what they ask nature but why they ask nature, and how it makes them better designers.

Designers Accord: Biomimicry is the area of investigation that seeks to emulate nature, its models, systems, and processes in order to solve human problems. How did you first hear about it?

KZ: In 2005, I participated in a US Green Building Council meeting in Austin, discussing the various merits, permutations and structures of LEED and our mission with my fellow design colleagues. A guest named Chris Allen, who would soon become CEO of Biomimicry 3.8, was introduced to me after the meeting where he went on to describe a concept called "biomimicry" as one of the most fascinating and important ways to problem-solve that he had come across. Chris encouraged me to read Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, the unofficial bible of biomimcry by Janine Benyus. My interest was piqued and so my journey began...

It seems to be the case frequently that people are "converted" by someone whose eyes have been opened to biomimicry. Robert, as a current student in the Biomimicry Professional Certification Program, you'll soon be amongst those evangelists. How do you convey the essence of biomimicry to someone new to the concept? How do you describe the essence of biomimicry as a method for problem-solving?

RS: I'll be graduating from the program in January, but am already an active evangelist! When I'm speaking with people who might be unfamiliar with the concept, I usually start by presenting biomimicry as a new innovation methodology. Biomimicry introduces a new perspective or way of thinking about any given design challenge. Biomimicry asks us to find functions and strategies in nature and translate and apply them to our human design challenges. From that point, I introduce the environmental ethos of biomimicry and that its goal is to create conditions conducive to life.

What specific example do you give people about biomimicry when they ask for an illustration of nature's strategies?
RS: Most recently I've been using this very simple slide to show how biomimicry can be applied to design challenges. It illustrates the FORM-PROCESS-ECOSYSTEM framework for how nature's genius has been used in the recent past.

biomimicry_img1.jpg 
[Source: Robert Suarez]
For a different audience, I've shared observations on resilience in nature and explain the different strategies that are employed by the Lodgepole Pine, Ponderosa Pine, and Quaking Aspen. Their diverse fire survival and propagation strategies involve sacrificial layers, underground rhizomes, and serotinous cones that are programmed to release seeds only with high heat (fire). Clients often ask: "how can we maintain equilibrium?" I think that's the wrong question. Examples like these help them realize they need to admit that they are functioning in a state of constant and dynamic non-equilibrium. There will always be another fire and organizations need to adapt to changing conditions. 

biomimicry_img2.jpg 
[Source: Robert Suarez]
Which of nature's insights do you find the most useful to your work?
KZ: It's hard to nail it down to one specific example because biomimicry really has so many differing strategies, scales, etc. I find superorganisms and social insects are good examples, because they both demonstrate scaling from parts to whole and function across form, process and system. Salp, the barrel-shaped, planktonic tunicates found in ocean waters, are quite interesting as individuals, but they are really cool when they come together to form chains and become superorganisms. Superorganisms are biological entities made up of large numbers of simpler entities that have banded together to perform functions they cannot do as individuals. Such functions might include
  • mobility, 
  • unique sensors, 
  • heightened intelligence, 
  • highly specialized division of labor, 
  • distributed intelligence, and 
  • self-organization. 
Termites are particularly fascinating because they build mounds, which are well-studied and have served as inspiration for architecture with their ventilation strategies, but spatial dispersement patterns of mounds have also been found to improve ecosystem services.
biomimicry_img4.jpg 
[Source: Inhabitat]
In my professional work, biomimicry has been a great framework for me to use with organizational development and land use/city planning. I'm particularly interested in the concept of Living Communities, and biomimicry is a natural methodology to employ in that design context.

In your work in designing digital experiences Robert, what do you draw on in biomimicry in help open new thinking?
RS: Digital design offers a whole new ecosystem to play in, yet you can see nature's principles in many new digital experiences, from self-organization to integrated feedback loops. I've recently looked into Thistles as an example of a community platform or social network that accommodates diverse species while allowing for coordinated experiences and value exchange. They invest heavily in defense mechanisms while saving resources through free energy propagation. I am now starting an investigation into new communication and sensing strategies. From magnetic sensing and heat detection to electroreception and echolocation, animals incorporate additional perceptive abilities to navigate our world. I think there are some incredible strategies here to learn from.
biomimicry_img5.jpg 
[Source: Thomas Shahan / MNN]
We have no shortage of frameworks and methodologies for creative problem-solving—from The Natural Step and Cradle-to-Cradle, to Design Thinking and Systems Thinking. Where does biomimicry fit into the landscape and why should designers study it? What is the unique perspective gained and how does it change/improve your work?

KZ: Biomimicry is a discipline that helps us understand how we can fit into the landscape. The need for innovation and practice to contribute to creating conditions conducive to life is unquestionable, but how you do that must go beyond what we have established as precedent. Our human-made library of best practices and innovation is nothing compared to what nature has created.
RS: Biomimicry, as a methodology, is adaptable and scalable for different needs and applications. At IDEO we've been using Biology-to-Design tools early in our process to provide teams with new perspectives or approaches to design challenges. It helps teams think about the problem in a different way by introducing new mechanisms or models to further investigate. We've also been studying social organisms and abstracting strategies that we can share with clients who are looking for new organizational design solutions.
KZ: Biomimicry is a methodology for exploration that has the profound ability to reconnect us to place. People need to see how easy it is to examine nature's genius in their own backyards—biomimicry is everywhere, it's not just a collection of exotic examples.
Biomomicry is also a multi-disciplinary practice, so it draws new voices to the design process, voices that lend incredible new insight and language to our understanding of the world and how we might reconsider the role of design in that world. Everyone can participate in the study of biomimicry, so it can be brought into K-12 and higher education, it can be explored as a family, it can be applied to organizational development, material science, city and regional planning, banking systems, and on and on. The best part about it for me is that I can engage my sons with it like nothing else I've done professionally. There's definitely an element of play to biomimicry. It gets you outside, looking at things up close, asking questions like you did when you were a kid, and then you get to think about how they are relevant to our design challenges and design with those ideas.
There's no doubt that once you've studied and practiced biomimicry, you'll observe the world much differently. I suggest we all start with the simple question: "How would nature do that?"
Biomimicry 3.8 offers educational programs to train people how to expertly draw inspiration from nature and develop innovative and truly next-gen sustainable design solutions.
BIOMIMICRY PROFESSIONAL: Two-year master's equivalent program with instruction by Dayna Baumeister and inspiration from Janine Benyus, acclaimed thought-leaders who have literally defined the discipline worldwide. BProfessional combines experiential (ecosystem) and online collaborative learning and is comprised of five designers, five biologists, five engineers, and five businesspeople from around the world. It's extremely competitive, and attracts participants who are highly influential in their professional networks and aspire to be "trim tab" thinkers and doers.

BIOMIMICRY SPECIALIST: Eight-month program includes online coursework, virtual design lab, and workshops in two ecosystems. This program has been developed to complement the busy schedules of active professionals. Members of the Designers Accord approved and accepted into the program are now eligible for a 10% tuition discount (reference promo code "DAdiscount" with your application before March 2).


Applications for the 2012 Biomimicry 3.8 Biomimicry Professional and Specialist certification programs are due March 2, 2012.

"Inspiraciones": un cortometraje celebrando el arte matemático de MC Escher

ORIGINAL: OpenCulture
24 de febrero 2012



Hace casi dos años, el cineasta español Cristóbal Vila filmó un exquisito cortometraje, Nature by Numbers, que capturó las formas en que los conceptos matemáticos (Secuencia de Fibonacci, Número Dorado, etc) se manifiestan en la naturaleza. Y el corto y luego logró unas buenas 2,1 millones de visitas en YouTube solamente.

Esta semana, Vila regresa con una nueva película llamada Inspirations. En este caso, la inspiración es M.C. Escher (1898-1972), el artista holandés que explora una amplia gama de ideas matemáticas con sus xilografías, litografías, y la media tinta. A pesar de Escher no tenía ningún entrenamiento formal en las matemáticas más allá de la escuela secundaria, muchos matemáticos se contaban como admiradores de su obra. (Visite la galería de fotos en línea para obtener un mejor conocimiento acerca del arte de Escher, y asegúrese de hacer clic en las miniaturas para agrandar las imágenes).

Como explica Vila, inspiraciones trata de imaginar el lugar de trabajo de Escher, "las cosas de que se rodea un artista como él, tan profundamente interesado en la ciencia en general y las matemáticas en particular." Es un período de tres minutos de imaginación desenfrenada.

jueves, 23 de febrero de 2012

Pelícanos en peligro de extinción han quedado en el Mar Congelado

ORIGINAL: Global Animal
23 de febrero 2012
Los funcionarios rusos que alimentan a los pelícanos en peligro de extinción obligados a trasladarse debido a la helada del mar Caspio.
Fotografía: Sergei Rasulov / AP
(Rescate de Animales) RUSIA - Con la congelación del Mar Caspio por primera vez en muchos años, cientos de especies en peligro y pelícanos dálmatas hambrientos están compartiendo una rara y pequeña porción de agua congelada en Makhachkala, Rusia. El Ministerio de Protección de la Naturaleza se ha asociado con los legisladores locales para ofrecer a los pelícanos alimentos hasta que puedan cazar por su cuenta, pero alrededor de 20 han muerto ya. Siga leyendo para obtener más información acerca de lo que Rusia está haciendo para proteger a estos pelícanos. - Animal Mundial

The Huffington Post
Makhachkala, Rusia (AP) - Las autoridades se apresuran a salvar a cientos de los pelícanos dálmatas muertos de hambre y en peligro de extinción después de que el Mar Caspio se congeló por primera vez en muchos años.

Cientos de los pájaros de color blanco grisáceo con plumas rizadas distintivas en sus nucas se empujaban unos a otros en un manchón de agua congelada en un astillero cerca de la ciudad de Makhachkala, la capital de la sureña provincia rusa de Daguestán.

Alrededor de 20 aves han muerto de hambre a pesar de los cientos de kilos (libras) de pescado que su ministerio y un legislador local están comprando todos los días para darles de comer, dijo el martes el portavoz del Ministerio de de Protección de la Naturaleza de Daguestán, Arslan Dydymov.

Menos de 1.400 pelícanos dálmatas, la mayor del mundo, viven en el sur de Rusia.

Las aves están recibiendo el compras en el mercado local, porque el pescado fresco desde el mar Caspio helado no está disponible más.

"Ayer parecía que habían comidoa más que suficiente", dijo Kurban Kuniev de la reserva de la naturaleza Daguestán.

Los pájaros volaban a Makhachkala la semana pasada de los deltas helados de los ríos Volga y Terek en el norte. Los residentes locales estaban tan emocionados por la llegada que los guardias en el astillero de Makhachkala tuvo que evitar dejar a cientos entrar con pan y otros alimentos no aptos.

"Nosotros no los dejamos entrar por el bien de los pelícanos", dijo el jefe de guardia de Magomed Eldarov.

Más Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/dalmatian-pelicans-caspian-sea-fed_n_1290147.html

Exígele a Shell que no destruya el Ártico


En estos momentos siete de nuestros activistas ocuparon un buque de la gigante petrolera Shell, que intenta partir desde Nueva Zelanda a las costas de Alaska para iniciar perforaciones petroleras en el Ártico, hogar del oso polar y uno de los ecosistemas más fragiles del planeta.

Shell es la primera empresa petrolera que tiene planes ambiciosos de explotación del Ártico y este año piensa poner en funcionamiento cinco pozos exploratorios nuevos sobre las aguas del Mar Ártico.

Un derrame de petróleo en esta zona sería imposible de contener y provocaría un desastre ambiental mayor que el del Golfo de México.

Exígele a Shell que detenga sus planes para destruir el Ártico. 

Completa el formulario en este enlace

miércoles, 22 de febrero de 2012

Una planta regenerada a partir de semillas de 32.000 años. Es la más antigua a la fecha.

ORIGINAL: NatGeo
Rachel Kaufman

National Geographic News
21 de febrero 2012
Una planta regenerada a partir de semillas de 32.000 años.
Fotografía cortesía de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias.
La planta más antigua en ser regenerada ha pasado 32.000 años de edad, sus semillas, batiendo el anterior poseedor del record en unos 30.000 años. (Relacionado: "Árbol" Matusalén " semillas de más de 2.000 Años.")
Un equipo ruso descubrió un alijo de semillas de Silene stenophylla, una planta con flor nativa de Siberia, que había sido enterrado por una ardilla en la Edad de Hielo cerca de las orillas del río Kolyma (mapa). La datación por radiocarbono confirmaron que las semillas eran de 32.000 años de antigüedad.

Las semillas maduras e inmaduras, que habían sido completamente encerradas en el hielo, fueron desenterrados de 124 pies (38 metros) por debajo del permafrost, rodeado de capas que incluye mamuts, bisontes, rinocerontes lanudos y los huesos.

Las semillas maduras se habían dañado, tal vez por la propia ardilla, para evitar la germinación en la madriguera. Pero algunas de las semillas inmaduras conservaban material vegetal viable.

El equipo extrajo el tejido de las semillas congeladas, se colocaron en viales, y se germinaron con éxito las plantas, de acuerdo con un estudio reciente. Las plantas-idénticas entre sí, pero con diferentes formas de la flor de la moderna S. stenophylla crecieron, florecieron y, después de un año, crearon las semillas de su propia cuenta.

"No puedo ver ningún fallo intrínseco en el artículo," dijo el botánico Peter Raven, presidente emérito del Jardín Botánico de Missouri, que no participó en el estudio. "Aunque es un informe tan extraordinario que, por supuesto, te gustaría repetirlo."

Raven es también jefe del Comité de National Geographic para la Investigación y Exploración. (La sociedad propietaria de National Geographic News.)

Estudio de la planta podría ayudar a Bóvedas de semillas?

El nuevo estudio sugiere que el permafrost podría ser un "depositario de un patrimonio genético antiguo," un lugar donde podría ser cualquier número de especies extintas ahora encontrado y resucitado, dicen los expertos.

"Ciertamente, algunas de las plantas que fueron cultivadas en la antigüedad y se han extinguido y otras plantas importantes para los ecosistemas, una vez que han desaparecido, sería muy útiles hoy en día si podrían ser devueltas a la vida", dijo Elaine Solowey, un botánico en el Instituto Arava de Estudios del Medio Ambiente en Israel.

Solowey resucitó la palmera datilera de dos mil años de edad, que anteriormente ostentaba el título de las más antiguas de semilla regenerada.

Su semilla de palma, sin embargo, había sido enterrado en un lugar seco, fresco, muy lejos de ser el medio ambiente permafrost de las semillas de S. stenophylla.

La regeneración de las semillas que han estado congeladas a 19 grados Fahrenheit (-7 grados centígrados) durante tanto tiempo podría tener implicaciones importantes, dijo Solowey, que no estuvo involucrado en el nuevo estudio.

Eso es porque de todos los proyectos de protección de semillas más famoso es quizás la llamada bóveda del fin del mundo de Noruega, también conocido como la Bóveda Global de Semillas de Svalbard (ver fotos)-dependen de semillas congeladas.

"Cualquier conocimiento que se obtiene de las semillas que se hayan congelado y la forma de descongelar y hacerlas brotar es muy valiosa", dijo.

Raven del Jardín Botánico de Missouri, agregó que, si somos capaces de descubrir las condiciones que mantienen a las semillas viables durante 32.000 años, a continuación, "si lo estuviera haciendo uno mismo, se podrían preservar las semillas [] durante más tiempo."

Regenerada de semillas estudio publicado esta semana en Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.